Fixed List Metadata

Fixed List metadata is data that is categorised with a limited number of options. This can appear as one of the following data types:

Drop Down List (Select one from a list of drop down options)

Checkboxes (Select Multiple by ticking the boxes in a fully displayed list of options)

Radio Buttons (Select one from a fully displayed list of options)

Category Trees (Select Multiple from a hierarchy of options)

This is crucial to the ResourceSpace approach due to its strengths for narrowing searches by a particular field rather than all fields.
It is used in cases such as a fixed list of countries, subjects and emotions instead of free text entry.
Free text entry should only be used for items that are very specific to the resource and are not widely reused, for example people's names.
This ensures that the same keywords are used when classifying resources which makes searching them much easier by ensuring all the data is the same.